GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



CONVERSATIONS with DOOLITTLE 



At Borodino, New York. 



DISTURBING BEES IN WINTER. 



A correspondent writes that it 

 will soon be time for the bees to 

 go into winter quarters, and wishes 

 to know if it will do any harm for 

 him to look at them occasionally 

 during their winter nap. He says 

 an old beekeeper told him that he examined 

 the bees at all times of the year, and in all 

 kinds of weather, and that it did no harm. 



I am well aware from past experience 

 how any one having a bad case of the " bee 

 fever " can be amused by looking at them 

 during winter; but from that same past 

 experience I think it far better to amuse 

 ourselves in some other way. During the 

 spring and summer, when the bees are able 

 to fly, a little disturbance is not injurious, 

 and at certain times a manipulation of the 

 hives and combs may be made very profit- 

 able, especially if it can be done when there 

 are no robber bees prowling about to 

 pounce uiDon their stores. If the apiarist 

 is thoroly informed on the condition of each 

 colony of bees as to their needs he can bet- 

 ter supply them, in time to be of the most 

 service. But in cold weather the novice 

 cannot be too much warned against the ill 

 effects of a disturbance of colonies, whether 

 they are in the cellar or in the open air. Bees 

 at such times are closely clustered together 

 in as compact a shape as the combs allow. 

 If a hive is carefully opened it will be 

 noticed that the bees' heads, so far as may 

 be, are all turned toward the center, and 

 that they move but little, all their eiforts 

 seemingly tending to gain access to the 

 warmest spot. If outdoors the disturbance 

 causes them to " break the cluster " to as- 

 certain and drive off the danger. If the 

 weather is around the zero mark many will 

 become numb, and perish before the clus- 

 ter can be properly formed again. If in 

 the cellar, the disturbance may cause more 

 trouble, as the bees will become more alert 

 to drive off intruders, and many fly out and 

 get lost on the cellar bottom. And if the 

 disturbance is long continued, the bees will 

 fill themselves with honey, and in turn feed 

 the queen, which will result in premature 

 breeding, bee diarrhea, and death. Thus 

 quietude is almost indispensable. 



If the novice must satisfy his curiosity he 

 must do it at the peril of the bees. If food 

 for each colony has not been supplied be- 

 fore the bees go into winter quarters, it 

 is a difficult thing to supply this now with- 

 out risk. The proper time to feed is as 

 soon as the last flowers which give a sur- 



plus have gone out of bloom — during the 

 last half of September and the first half 

 of October, here in the northern states. 

 Then frequent disturbance causes the bees to 

 become fearful that they may be driven from 

 their stores, consequently they fill them- 

 selves with honey to overloading, and then, 

 when the divsturbanee ceases, they unload it 

 back into the cells again. But this filling 

 with honey and putting it back in the cells 

 brings on an excitement which has caused 

 them to consume more than they other- 

 wise would, and there is consequently over- 

 loading of the intestines. And as bees are 

 so cleanly that they will not discharge the 

 feces in the hive unless they are positively 

 obliged to, their anxiety for a chance to 

 get into the open air causes them to break 

 the cluster and raise the temperature in 

 the liive to summer heat, which makes 

 brood-rearing almost a necessity, even in 

 mid-winter, the result of which is a worn- 

 out vitality, which gives what is called 

 " spring dwindling," so that the old bees 

 nearly all perish before the bees emerging 

 from the brood become plentiful and strong 

 enough to build up. 



There are times in winter when it will 

 well pay to look after the bees that are on 

 their summer stands. It is when a warm 

 day comes, in which the temperature rises 

 to from 45 to 60 degrees in the shade, with 

 no wind, or nothing stronger than a breeze. 

 If the hives are surrounded with snow, it 

 should be shoveled away and the entrances 

 to the hive cleared of dead bees so that the 

 bees can have a flight and empty them- 

 selves of their feces. Some even recom- 

 mend that, if the bees are slow about coming 

 out, or if the hive is in the shade, the 

 hive be pounded on gently, so that the 

 bees may become aware of the warm atmos- 

 phere outside. But I have found more 

 trouble from the bees coming out and be- 

 coming chilled on the snow with the mer- 

 cury standing at from 35 to 40 degrees in 

 the shade, when the sun is shining brightly, 

 than in their staying inactive when it was 

 warm enough for them to fly safely. At 

 times when bees come out and are lost on 

 the snow it is best to shade the entrances 

 by setting up a board in front of each hive, 

 or by sweeping snow against the front. J 



If any colonies are known to be lacking I 

 in stores, such warm days in winter are just 

 the time to supply them by putting in the 

 number of combs of sealed honey which will 

 be required. This is far better than to try 

 to feed syrup or honey in cold weather. 



